narutofanonfandomcom-20200222-history
Very Bored Ninjas
It had been a couple of days since the initial formation of Team Yoko, and they had spent a fair portion of it together. While the team wasn't exactly a well oiled machine, it had been deemed familiarized enough to take on their first mission. Today, the three genin of Team Yoko had been called together once again. They had work to do. It would be a D-rank mission, barely a test of skills for any competent ninja. But it was the first work assigned to any group of genin, even one as unusual as theirs. It was a rainy day in the Mist, the heavens drizzling down like they so often do. The mist that gave the village it name hung around the ground like a white blanket warming the earth, although it was a cold mist, soaking those walking through its swirling depths to the bone. The Very First Mission Hmm. Yoko was impressed they had gotten this far. She glanced around, and all of her team had selected appropriate hiding spots. It was time to snag the target, and retrieve it. She herself had taken herself up in a tree, to spy on the stray. The dog seemed to be wandering without a purpose, lost within the forest. It hadn't eaten in awhile, and it would soon need to if it was to survive, especially in this cold rain. This was they had to get it back home, to Kiri's shelter. Quickly. Pressed against a tree, Nikari decided to climb further, carefully picking his way up into the lower branches. With the persistent drizzle and mist, Nikari was effectively concealed from the wandering dog. However, this produced a counter-effect, as he couldn't really see the dog. Carefully summoning the least amount of chakra possible, he awakened his sensing abilities, using them to carefully perceive his teammates around him, as well as their chakra signatures. Since becoming a team, he always noticed that Rokun's chakra had a sinister edge to it. He shivered, before focusing his attention back on the dog. "Weird," he thought, "I guess I can't pick up animals using my sensing abilities,". Depressed by this thought and the rain, Nikari settled into the tree, waiting for a teammate to make the first move on capturing the dog. It was raining outside, and it made their job all the more difficult. Gatou's sense of smell was barely able to track the dog, and his hearing wasn't in much better shape. But this thing REALLY needed a bath, leaving him able to at least tell which direction it was. However he was moving slower than usual today. His female teammate, Rokun, had talked him into letting her ride him around like he was at a dog and pony show. Normally he didn't give rides to people, but she asked nicely. ...If you call holding a blade at my throat nicely... he thought. But what was done was done, and she was currently straddling the spine of his dire wolf form, that bloody smell still persisting on her. He still wasn't quite certain what it was, but from the closeness between the two, he could certainly tell it wasn't to cover the smell of her drawing ero-comics. There was no smell of that sort on her. Rokun kept her eyes on the dog, eyes sharp and peering towards the canine. Her hands holding lightly onto the fur of her shapeshifting comrade's back. In her mind, the scenario played out in several ways, trying to take the D-rank mission as realistically as possible. The value of the mission was at an all time low, but the principles of it could be broken down and learned from if desired. Capture and return, recon, all of it came into play. Sniffing the air, trying to be as keen as her comrade, she lowered her ear into her partner's ear, barely audible. "You smell like wet dog..." knowing it was obvious, but felt the need to let him know. Because honestly... he really reeked thanks to all the rain. Slowly, she raised her leg farther up the side of Gatou, lowering one hand to grab some of her taut wire, body tense, showing she was ready to make a move. Yoko looked at her unique assortment of genin. This, is what they call my team, for some reason. She thought. Well what can I do? She looked around at each of their positions, while reaffirming the dogs position. She got out her small radio and, whispered, "Is this thing on? If it is, pay attention," she said sharply. "You move when I say so. And I'll move you in this order. Gatou, Nikari, then Rokun. Understood?" "Got it," Nikari responded before settling in further. He blinked twice, staring at blade girl riding his teammate like a miniature pony. "I guess they decided to put everyone's abilities to use," he thought, before catching some of the rain in his mouth. It was fresh and cold, not unlike the mountain springs that he visited on occasion before enrolling in the academy. At hearing his teammates words, Gatou flicked his ears in annoyance. "You don't say?" he growled at a whispering level. He could then feel her moving around on top of him, straddling his back up a little higher than she was. She pulled something out of her pouches on her legs, though Gatou couldn't see what it was. Upon hearing their sensei over the radio that was currently attached by his ear, he simply gave a soft grunt in confirmation as he lowered his stance to signify his readiness to move while being careful to not upset the balance of the knife-happy girl on top of him. Breathing deeply, Rokun spoke softly, drawing out more of the wire and keeping it tautly wound in her hand. "I am ready when you are Gatou..." eyes unflinching, locked on the dog that was mulling around not too far off of their position. Her breath becoming as silent as she could control it, as gentle as the breeze that rustled the trees. So, Yoko thought. They are ready. Time to start. "Nikari you move first. Use your starch syrup to limit the dog's movement. Then Gatou and Rokun can go about actually containing and capturing it. Now, move!" "On it," Nikari thought, making the hand seals for his technique, before releasing a few meters worth of starchy water around the dog. The starchy material was further aided by the continuing rain, allowing the surface to spread and thicken around the dog. "You're up Wolf and Blade Girl," Nikari said, before scaling down the tree. Gatou heard the go command, and literally sprang into action. He jumped as smoothly into the air as he could as to not buck off his passenger. At the sight of a large white wolf and its accompanied rider, the dog turned away from the group, before realizing it had massive issues trying to move around in the warm and sticky fluid that came from their teammate. Gatou angled along to the side of the dog at full speed, making sure not to step into the fluid in the process. "Get ready to catch the thing" he told his rider as they neared the stray animal. Rokun didn't hesitate, hopping off the back of her comrade, she slid two small weight marbles at the end of her wire, coiling it like a bola and spinning it above her head, throwing it towards the dogs legs in a hasty action. Her breath steady and her aim good, Rokun didn't want to waste time. In a short leap that succeeded her bola toss, Rokun hoped to tie the dogs legs and pin it down, preparing to tackle it. Yokotama watched as the dog's legs got tied down, as it was trapped in the sticky liquid. "So far so good guys," She coached. "Now, bring it in! Back to me, so we can finish this thing." Reaching the ground once more Nikari manipulated the sticky surface, wrapping it securely around the dog's torso as it began to harden. Just to be safe, he applied a further amount of the starch syrup directly underneath the dog, before preparing to help Rokun bring it back to their sensei. Gatou watched as his team mates closed in to secure the dog, while he moved into the natural direction it would flee if it somehow got free. Rokun felt her body fall atop the dog, wrapping her arm under the nook of it's snapping jaw, growling at her. Her body, though not that heavy, would be enough in combination with her bola to subdue the hound. "That wasn't so hard..." Rokun said with hardly a sweat drop in sight. Helpless Upon returning to the location where they were to drop off the target, they were greeted by a messenger. They were asked to immediately proceed to meet with Hairi Hōzuki, the Mizukage's most junior aide. She had a special, and urgent request for the team. As they quickly made their way through kirigakure, they had to wonder just what was so important. Almost as if nature itself was curious, the sun managed to break through the clouds and the rain was stilled, though for how long was anyone's guess. But it was heartening to know that they would have the sun to see by on this mission, even if it was only for a little while. Reaching the building, they were greeted by a young and slenderly build woman with a moderate to small sized bustline and body who was sporting a shoulder length of blue hair. She was Hairi, a tokubetsu jonin who served as the Mizukage Yagura's aide. She was in charge of all C and D rank missions that the village gave out. She had given them the one they had accomplished shortly before they were called here. She motioned them to enter the building. On the way to her office, they passed a waiting room that was filled with the sobbing of a crying woman, though the pace of their guide prevented them from hearing it long. As they reached her office, she motioned them inside before walking around to her desk and sitting down. "I know you have just completed a mission, but an urgent request has come in. A child enrolled at the academy, Mizuna Ohana, wandered into the north forest his morning, and hasn't come out. Her mother has put in a request for us to find her, or if that isn't possible, to at least ascertain her fate. Normally we would assign a pair of chunin or a jonin for a mission like this, but that one," she said while pointing at Gatou "knows these forests better than anyone we currently have available, and we don't have a jonin to spare right now." To his credit, Gatou didn't look surprised at the reasoning they were called. He had spent most of his early life stalking through those forests, and he knew them better than anyone. Despite all this, even he avoided that forest. The north forest was full of things, dangerous things. He had wandered there, but he never tarried. Wandering in that forest was a good way to get killed. "I'm just going to say this," Gatou responded with a dark tone, " that student is probably dead. I don't go into that forest... and I am better at surviving in the forests around the the village than she could ever be." "Even so, we have a request, and it will be honored. The question is," she said to everyone in the room," are you up to it. I won't ask you to go on a mission you aren't ready for." Yokotama looked at her rag-tag team, which she had done many times in that one day. Based of that dog mission, she had to admit that they weren't have bad. And she wasn't about to let anyone else just die on her watch, especially from Kiri. Forget being scared, this was a comrade they were discussing. "I'm sure you guys are all up to it right?" Yoko said, determined to help the comrade in distress. "This was the harder mission you've been waiting for. Don't fall short now!" "Sure, I'm up for it, as long as we can get this young girl out in one piece," Nikari pauses, "considering Gatou knows the most about the forest we are heading into, shouldn't we make him the co-leader of this mission? That way Gatou can make sure we don't do anything stupid in the place were about to head into," Nikari takes out his water bottle, taking a long swig from it before closing it and cracking his knuckles. "Well what are we waiting for? If we're going to do this mission, we better start preparing, especially if the forest is as dangerous as Gatou says," Eyes had been off a ways, peering away from the group, seemingly lost in thought. Battle robe of flowing black and flecked with ivory across her heels, cupping her waistline, and her shoulders, she paid attention through her hearing alone. Thoughts danced about her in head, "A student lost in a forest... all alone..." playing out the mission in her head, "Life threatening..." hearing the words, her heart jolted. Lub dub!! Rokun's calm demeanor faded, turning her face to her comrades and the mission distributor. Rosy lips slowly breaking apart, leaving only the sight of her jagged smile that ebbed on the side of sinister and eerie. Her lips slowly forming her thoughts made into words, "I'm more then eager... let's do it..." the tone that fell off her tongue dripped with sensuous hunger, as if on the edge of excitement. Her amber eyes, piercing and slanted, she had been wanting something like this. A challenge that would hopefully bring out the best of her, that moment between life and death. "How can we say no to someone in danger, after all...?" the tone and mood she had given off, her racing heart, betrayed by the deceit in her voice, playing it off as a mere comradery. "It's what Shinobi do." With a deep inhale and exhale, Rokun fixed her expression to that of what she had hidden the truth behind, as before, a blank slate with only the faintest of smiles. It was obvious the tide on this whole mission had turned against him. Even Gatou had to notice this. The jonin not seeing this to be a bad idea wasn't surprising, Hozuki were essentially immune to what was in that forest. Their lack of a physical form prevented them from being eaten. The genin on the other hand obviously didn't know what they were walking into. Nikari was also a hozuki, but his lack of experience overall meant that those things might be able to kill him. Rokun on the other hand didn't even have that to fall back on. Her body was Grade-A meat and bodily fluids. All she would be is a tasty snack. Not that she seemed to mind. She definitely did not draw ero comics. Gatou's nose was still far more sensitive than a normal humans even when he wasn't transformed, he had modified that bit of his body permanently a long time ago. The smell that was coming off of her at the moment, was extremely strong to his nose. She was absolutely excited by the possibility of getting torn limb from limb. This girl scared the shit out of him. However a smell like that would cause some noticeable side effects to any man. As such, he had to stab himself in the hand to not make it obvious what he was thinking. With a sigh he said, "I guess we have no choice then, I will try to find her..." He didn't think he had much of a chance, but what could one do when everyone else was for it? Yoko was not a fool. Though she had never actually been into Kiri's forests, she had heard the stories. This would be dangerous, but they would need to move fast as well. So within an hour or so of preparation, she got her team to set out into the dark forests. She arranged them to process with Gatou in the front, and her in the back, with Nikari and Rokun in between so Gatou could lead the way with his impressive nose. Yoko sighed, as she analyzed the dark forests. Mizuna would send us on an urgent mission, as it neared nighttime wouldn't she? I just hope we can pull together, and bring our comrade home safely. Though I'm unsure what that will take... The rag-team followed Gatou in silence, the only sounds were that of crickets chirping. Nikari yawned once more as they began the trek down to the entrance of the forest, "It's awfully quiet here, Nikari thought, "its almost like the entire forest is holding its breath, waiting for something important to happen,". He started to regret the brave face he put on when accepting this mission, particularly as he watched the last rays of sunlight began to disappear. "We got this," Nikari muttered to himself before his stomach rumbled slightly. He began opening up his sensory perception, looking for any tell-tale signs of the girl that they were looking for. Rokun etched around the forest, following her comrades, moving through brush and sifting through the tall grass, her eyes darting all over the place, with hands at the ready by her hips to pull her senbon from her holsters if required. Trigger happy, was the word, Rokun imagined herself. The danger had to be near, it had to be much closer than any of them could perceive - it was too... still. Too lifeless. Reaching the edge of where the forest began to become dense and overgrown, Gatou stopped the entire group. It was time to explain exactly what they were dealing with. The group had tracked the footprints of the child in the mud this far, so it was clear that she was farther into the forest. "I got to warn you before we go any farther, these things... they aren't exactly normal creatures. They're way too intelligent for that. They're arachnid in nature, but thinking these things are just giant spiders will get you killed... I've seen it happen." Gatou opened before he went on a short explanation of what the things looked liked so people knew what to look for. "These things generally don't move around much during the day, they instead lie and wait in ambush. We need to get out before it truly gets dark, or we could be on their buffet as well. They will bury into the ground, logs, marshes, tall grass, you name it. During the day they will hide in these, hoping some prey comes near. If you are unsure or simply don't know what something is, please don't touch it. It might be one of the things... That and do not step in a hole, you will probably lose a leg." he said as he finished up his explanation. Tch. Yokotama scanned the forest, and got frustrated as even with her excellent perception and attention to detail, she couldn't find a trace of the girl. All she could find were bugs, bugs and more bugs. Where could the girl have gone? Getting anxious, as she could still find nothing, she called out to Gatou in the front. "Find any leads yet? Any signs of her?" Rokun checked around, still moving through the brush, her heart was literally racing. The thought of danger was so close, life could literally be on the line with each step she made. Her fingers drawing at the Senbon in her pouch and readying herself. "Hello...?" calling out lowly, still checking for the girl. Prey was near, wandering into the den of it and its kin. It had no name, its race had no name, but it did have one desire. It wanted meat, fresh juicy meat. If it was lucky, it might get some of the hives last victim. It wasn't dead yet, but soon would be. Then glorious meat would be its. But for now, there was juicy juicy prey beneath it. It couldn't kill the prey, not yet. But it could use its venom sac to paralyze it, so it could drag it back to the nest. It slowly lowered itself from its hiding place in the trees above, right above Rokun. Slowly it neared, until one of its legs was nearly brushing the smaller girl's back. Rokun heard the slightest of rustling, her heart flashed, pounding in her chest. Eyes widening as she felt something brush her back. The sensations of the prickly hairs on a spindly leg, her nerves shot signals into her body, sending her warnings related to the threat. Her eyes turned, trying to see through the brush and into the dark shadows of the woods that loomed behind her, and likely a creature much more menacing then the place itself. The prey had noticed it... was all the spidery thing above rokun thought as it pulled back its right forearm befores slashing it across the back of the smaller girl below it. The force of the impact slice open the back of her outfit and the skin beneath it, leaving a moderately deep, but non-serious, gash stretching from shoulder blade to shoulder blade across Rokun's back as she hit the ground from the force of the unexpected impact. Abandoning its ambushing position and dropped to the ground, its legs all carefully maneuvered to not impale the sack of meat below it. Raising its stinger, it prepared to paralyze the smaller being below it. It is nearly time to feast The gash across her shoulders brought Rokun pain, the realization that her senses had not lied to her. The moment was too quick, bodily reaction was prohibited, she was too close, too near. Her muscles tightened, her eyes squinted with the pain, "Shit!" hissing in the sharp clawing motion. Dropping to the ground, rolling best she could to avoid the sharp and deadly legs that had already laid claim to her. Eyes widening as she turned her face to look at the stinger that was coming towards her. Hands on the ground, she hoped to push herself out of the way before it could strike, a small smile on her face. "This is what I wanted..." "Shit" was all that Gatou had time to say as he saw the spider take a swipe at his teammate. He winced as he saw the spider flay her back open with its claw. But now was not a time for inaction. He had to act quickly if he was going to save her. Drawing a kunai with a wire attacked, he threw it in such a manner that if she didn't do anything it would leave a slice along her collarbone. The purpose was him hoping that Rokun retained enough awareness to catch the kunai. If she did, he could pull her out. He bounded in an arc towards the direction opposite her facing, to pull her as far away from the poisonous end of the spider-thing as possible. As he reached the end of his short run, he switched forms, this time to a mighty gorilla. With this, he should have enough arm length and strength to get her out of the danger zone while one of his other teammates managed to turn the predator into the prey. Rokun knew her leap wouldn't get her out in time, but her jump was blessed with luck. Watching as her animal comrade tossed the kunai taut with the wire, she plucked it into her hands. "Pull!" tensing her body, knowing this next journey would involve her getting flung through the air - but it was fine with her so long as her journey didn't end with such a simple mistake. She hadn't even started yet... Seeing his troubled teammate grab onto the kunai, Gatou pulled with all this might, doing his best to save his teammate from getting a stinger shoved into her. But about halfway through his arm thrust, the line went taught, and he couldn't pull any further. Something had stopped Rokun from getting away. MY PREY MUST NOT ESCAPE ME The spiderery thing though as it saw its prey being pulled away by the line in front of it. Rather than letting her go, it extended one of its long slimy appendages that was used to hold its food for it to be consumed. Rokun almost got away right then, but it latched the appendage onto her foot, quickly sliding it up until it tightly wrapped her leg up to the knee. It then dug its legs into the ground, it wasn't letting this prey away without a fight. This has gone on long enough.. Yoko, finally getting her awareness together, made a move. She could barely see the faint outlines of huge legs from the spider, but based on the screams from her genin, she assumed that the legs she was looking at were the enemy's. Because she had no time to waste. Her genin, her comrades were in distress. Using her senses, which had been trained as a jonin (even though not as sharp as Gatou's), she was able to determine that the screams of Rokun and Gatou were coming from further away then where she was in the back. So basically assured that the attacker was in front of her, she attempted to grab its hooked legs, and burn it by using the Hozuki's Hydrification, well her own special modification of it. She turned her whole body into lava, which would literally eat away at the legs at the spider's legs and make them... no longer exist. Hearing the screams of his fellow teammates, Nikari turned around, letting his sensory abilities wash over the landscape behind him. Detecting two faint chakra signatures and a much more potent signature, he ran back to investigate. Seeing his sensei wrapped around the legs of the spider and burning them, as well as Gatou trying to pull Rokun away from the spider thing, Nikari decided to act. Activating the Hydrification Technique that his clan was known for, Nikari manipulated the water from his body and wrapped it around the spider's head, before tightening the grip and causing to the water to squeeze the spider's head. Nikari continued to add more water until his whole mass was tightly constricting the spider's neck and head areas. Rokun was not going to let herself fall to the likes of some tentacle faced arachnid bastard, her teeth revealed the serrated smile she was well known for. "Enjoy this!" grasping the kunai she was holding onto life for, she twisted it and used the blade to snap the wire that was connecting her with the one force preventing the big bug from consuming her. With the added force of her comrades, she didn't hesitate, taking the newly freed kunai, and launching it firmly into the throat of the suffocating spider demon. The wire went slack. Gatou had been pulling with all his gorilla form's might. He had been keeping Rokun from being eaten by the monster behind him. The wire went slack. She wasn't on it anymore. It had broken, or she had let go... The wire. It was slack... The thing keeping his teammate from being eaten... was slack. Gatou slid to his knees as he shifted back to his normal form, unaware of the world around him. "I failed..." he said with a shiver that went from the top of his head to his toes and back again. "She's gone..." Even one such as him, who had lived his whole life according to the survival of the fittest, losing a teammate, a friend, was not something one took without pause. But then, one thing broke through his stupor. Something was burning... The monster hadn't noticed the other two ninja running up to it from the side, so great was its intent on the meat bag in front of it. IT BURNS, IT BURNS it screamed out in thought, though no one could understand it. Its legs were burning, melting away in the raging inferno underneath it. Trying with all the might it could, it attempted to pull its legs away from the heat, away from the burning, but to no avail. Then the air went away. There was water on its face, but the injured creature couldn't comprehend how it got there between the woman it was trying to eat, the women trying to kill it, and the larger meat thing trying to pull its meal away from it. but where ever it came from, the monster couldn't breathe. it tried pulling back, but to no avail. At this point all it seemed to have control over was the tentacle holding rokun in place which tightened its grip on the girls leg. Then its world went dark. Rokun's kunai had dealt the deathblow. Her kunai had entered through the base of the jaw and had travelled upwards straight into its lower brain, killing it instantly. With the nerves controlling the tentacle falling silent, its grip broke. Rokun's leg slid free from the now flaccid appendages, leaving the only mark of where it held as a series of red marks on her leg that were covered in a thin goop, but no permanent damage. In the final moments of the creature's life, Gatou broke from his stupor from the burning smell behind him. Turning back, half expecting to see a battered corpse behind him. He breathed a large sigh of relief when this wasn't the case. "She's alive, thank goodness..." he said quietly while out of breath. Then after gathering his composure, he said with a louder tone, "See why I didn't want to come in here? These things are a massive pain in the ass, or back in this case." Getting to his feet, he walked over to his teammate to see what he could do to help. It seems it was quite the problem Yoko had on her hands. An injured genin, and a shaken team. She had to act fast, if she wanted to survive the night. Powering down, she gathered up Rokun, and treated it best she could. She had medicine to stop bleeding, which she gave to Rokun, but she also ended up cauterizing Rokun's back wound by using chakra control and heat emitted from herself. She then wrapped it in some cloth she carried, and also cleaned it as well before doing so. Not the very best treatment, it was all Yokotama could do. Keeping Rokun close to her, she suggested they better get moving again after some time. They definitely didn't want to be in one place too long, or stay in the forest any longer than they had too. Yokotama was angry it seemed, but she did her best to hold it in. Her comrades had been endangered, yet again, and she had barely managed to save them. This drew back upon many sad memories on Yoko's part, but she choose not to dwell on them. She had to focus on minimizing the damage done here, and find the girl before it was too late. It was time for her to take charge of her team, before there wasn't one to take charge of. With Gatou leading them yet again, Yoko carried Rokun in the back. Nikari was beside Gatou, and they were discussing something it seemed to her. It seemed like they'd never find the girl at this point. But Yoko just had to keep hoping that they'd find and save the comrade alive and at least somewhat well. She just had to keep hoping. It seemed this faith in the possibility of accomplishing what she came to do was her drive. What kept her going as the darkness would soon envelop them. She never deterred from finishing this mission, even though it was best to retreat. She resolved to keep going, as she couldn't bear to fail. Maybe, just maybe, it would pay off today. Rokun was glad to have had the kill, the finishing moment, but her back was an injury that brought her more in as a handicap then an asset. "No... I can't just stop now... I haven't had enough." a thought so linear, so transparent to herself, it almost made her laugh. But it was what she wanted. Being carried, she grumbled and sat in discontent, "I can walk on my own." Feeling the spider go slack all of a sudden, Nikari released his vice grip on the spider's neck and head. Jumping back down, he gathered all of his excess water and returned back to his solid form, picking out any loose foliage that had gotten stuck during his transformation from water back to a solid human being. He took out his Drinking Bottle, before turning around to survey the damage. What greeted his eyes was a dead spider, a injured Rokun, as well as a shaken Gatou and Yoko. "Why is Yoko shaken?" Nikari thought, "unless she has bad memories that were brought up the spider and Rokun's injury," Nikari activated his sensory ability once more, registering a flickering chakra from Rokun, and a darker-tinged chakra from both his sensei and Gatou. To say the least, his sensory perception wasn't necessary for him to realize that they were quite bedraggled and besieged, by thoughts and memories they didn't plan on sharing. "In that case, I guess we're off to continue looking for the girl, hopefully she isn't to further in," Nikari kept his sensory locked and focused, wary for anymore unintended company. As they ventured deeper and deeper into the forest, Team Yoko began to notice that the trees were becoming closer and closer together, almost as if the forest itself was trying to swallow them up. They were nearing the center of the forest. As Gatou noticed webs start showing up here and there, he motioned the entire group to a halt. It was dangerous for them to tread much further. "If we haven't found the girl by now, it means there is just one place she could be. The main nest is just up ahead. I dare not tread farther. The only one of us who can get in or out is Sensei. If Rokun, not even counting her injury, Nikari, or I tried to sneak in, we would just end up dead. If she is in there, she is already probably dead, or close to it." He said in all seriousness, "So what are we going to do?" he said to everyone "If Yoko-sensei goes in and we get found out here, it will be bad, and if she doesn't go in, that little girl is guaranteed dead." "That is logic is pretty sound, but still, Yoko-sensei is going to be up against who knows how many spiders in the hive. I know she is a jonin and our sensei, but even the strong need back up sometimes. I'm not saying I would accompany her all the way into the hive, but I still want to provide at least initial backup before Yoko-sensei penetrates deeper into the hive on her own. My hydrification technique should last long enough that I can help Yoko-sensei penetrate this hive before returning outside to provide help to you guys," Nikari nods towards Gatou and Rokun. "Considering that you know an awful lot about this hive Gatou, you should at least be able to provide some directions that I can relay to Yoko-sensei while she goes further into the hive," Nikari then turns to Rokun, "I know your back is injured but are you still rum with a blade? Because we are going to need it if we are to pull of this mission against hundreds of hostile monster-sized spiders," Nikari stretched before taking a swig of his water bottle. Yokotama told the genin to stay behind, and assured them she'd be back soon. Even though Nikari had asked to help, she assured him it was too dangerous, they had already been worked up too much that day anyway. She wouldn't allow it to continue any further. Activating her Lava Body, she trudged into the forest's heart, where the nest lay. The gruesome creatures swarmed her, but she was invincible, burning them all with sheer heat. Seeing the center, her eyes made contact with the bound girl. In white thread, blonde hair like the sun, fair as snow. Yoko made her way straight there. Spiders lashed out, she altered form. Bobbing and weaving, burning as necessary. Coming upon the inner ring, she began to grow cautious, in order to not hurt the girl. Switching to the normal hiden, she drowned the remaining spiders in her way before coming upon the girl and solidifying. Carrying the girl in her arms, she began her way back, utilizing Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave and other destructive water techniques, to destroy the nest once and for all. All the while keeping the girl safe in her arms. Escaping, she met with the genin, assuring them of her success. Gatou had spent most of the time sensei was away clearing the perimeter with Nikari. That close to the nest there were nearly half a dozen of the monstrosities right next to where they rested. Since it was nearly night, it was in their best interest to keep these things away from the group, especially with Rokun's injured back. Unfortunately for the monsters, not only weren't they quite as big as the first one, but unlike the one that had flayed open their team mate's back they didn't get a chance to ambush the genin this time. All six were quickly and easily dispatched through either drowning in the case of Nikari, or a swift lobotomy from above in terms of Gatou. Eventually, Yoko returned, their objective in tow. She laid the mostly unresponsive child onto the hard ground, to better see if there was anything wrong with her. On the surface, she looked completely normal, if a bit pale. Her clothing was scratched and ripped in spots, but overall manageable. Her body seemed to be in a similar shape, with the only significant wound a stab mark under her right pectoral area where the stinger from the spider paralyzed her. Eyelids flickered on a face framed in locks of gold. She wasn't alive or dead, but somewhere in between. Her mind completely responsive, yet due to the poison she had been administered she could barely gasp for air, let alone move. Then something moved... A bump, barely noticeable to one with enhanced senses, let alone the average ninja, appeared on her stomach briefly before disappearing again. Then another appeared on her chest, and another on her throat, all before disappearing. She then uttered a little gasp and her eyes fluttered partially open, causing the team to gather around her. As Gatou locked gazes with the child. He understood, he understood just what had happened to her. Remembering an incident from his past, he steeled himself for what he must do. "I'm sorry..." he whispered under his breath. A tear formed in his eye and his entire body quivered, before becoming still again. Pulling an explosive tag out from the pouch on his left buttock, he quickly slapped it directly onto the child's chest, much to his entire team's shock. As it started to ignite, he spun and tackled Rokun with all his might. Unlike Nikari or Yoko-Sensei, Rokun and himself were not able to make themselves immune to the explosion that was about to occur. They had barely made it fifteen feet away from the child by the time that the tag went off. The excess force threw the pair of genin, with Gatou rotating them so he would take the brunt of the impact that occurred shortly later with a tree. His back slammed into it with a loud thud, before the breath was forced out of him by Rokun slamming into him from the other side. Winded, he sat there trying to regain the breath stolen from him as his team tried to process what just happened... At this point Nikari lost his cool demeanor, shaken by what just happened. He grabbed Gatou by the shoulders, "why did you stick that explosive tag in the girl?" he yelled, while water gathered around him, responding to Nikari's anguish. "Do you understand that you just compromised our mission, and made going to this fucked up forest pointless?" Nikari shook Gatou to drive the point home. The water continued to rise as Nikari's anger continued to hold sway over him. It condensed around him, forming a rough humanoid shape before growing in shape. "Well?" Nikari snarled, running water through his arms to improve their strength. With no response coming from Gatou, Nikari began beating him, driving punch after punch home. "Weren't you the one saying we shouldn't go into the forest?!!" Nikari roared, continuing to bloody Gatou with driven punch after driven punch. As his arms grew tired from impact upon impact with Gatou's jaw, head and face, Nikari dropped him. Using the gathered water around him, Nikari formed a condensed trident of impressive size, measuring 10 feet long. With a roar of indignation, Nikari sent it flying at Gatou, leaving it quivering one millimeter from his throat. "Do you realized that you sabotaged this mission, that you made Rokun's injury nothing but pointless?!!" Nikari growled, "that you risked our sensei's life in that nest?!!" "Maybe we should have taken your advice and not gone to this twisted forest, especially it was going to inspire cowardly action on your part," at this point Nikari was practically spitting in Gatou's face. Nikari turned away, though not before releasing the suspended trident's form, drenching Gatou in bone-chilling water. "I can't believe I was assigned with a teammate like this," Nikari said, his eyes and voice cold enough to freeze even the most tropical of waters. Rokun's eyes widened as she saw what her ally had done, and she lay there, eyes still wide, thinking about what had just happened. As if glazed over, she felt the seconds expand into a vast moment, the explosions ringing in her ears, the injuries on her back opening once again. The mixture of pain, deafening noise, heat, and the revelation that her ally had just slain the objective so willingly. It actually shocked her - a break in the rational, it severed the train of thought she had kept while on this mission. Shifting slightly, she rose up on her elbows, leaning on one as she simply lay on her side, thinking of the situation. Gatou was that heartless all along, or merely an instrument of his own dementia? Thoughts traced across her mind, and Rokun couldn't fathom it for that moment. Gatou was the soft hearted kind, she presumed to be the softest of the group. Deductions puzzled about in her head, overwhelming her, causing the arguments around her to drown out as if she was underwater. Rokun couldn't help but shift in place, slowly rising to her feet. "I guess I wasn't the only crazy one..." speaking the word crazy with a bit of poison, eyes tracing up to Nikari and Gatou, "I guess I was wrong about you." "It seems, we failed." Yoko said, her voice edged with despair's blade. It was my job, to see this through... And she died. She buried her head in her arms, crying. "I wished we could have saved her." Her fists clenched. If anyone tried talking to her, she would not respond. She was caught up in her own world, where she had assumed she would never fail again. She had the power to protect this girl, but she failed, having not made it in time. Wiping her tears, she sighed in anguish. Her fire had been put out for today. Yoko would remain mostly silent afterwards. She could not accept it right then, that the team had failed. She knew there must of been something wrong with her, and Gatou had acted out of instinct, but, did she really have to die right when everything was going right? The thought that with all her power, that she herself was still helpless to save her comrades even now, was more than she could bear. Gatou took his beating in silence. Fist after fist slammed into his body, driving him into the tree behind him again and again. His body quaked under the blows. His lip fattened, and his eyes blackened. He even felt a rib or two break underneath the abuse. But still, he took it in silence. He hated himself for what he had done almost as much as Nikari had. But he hadn't done it without reason. Eventually the pummeling stopped, and a wave of water rushed over as his team mate ran out of steam to power his anger with. He sat there for a second allowing himself to try to breathe again. His entire body ached. His head sort of lolled over to look at Rokun, hearing her small utterances. Even she thought he was crazy. "Maybe you were wrong about me..." he weakly said with a pant, spitting a globule of blood out of his mouth afterwards. "Maybe I am crazy... But that girl was already dead, even before we got to her..." he said with a bit more strength as he pointed towards the shattered form of the child behind him. "Look and see for yourself." Something was stirring from inside the charred remains of her chest. A much smaller version of the monsters of this forest was there, albeit horribly injured and burned. It slowly attempted to pull its way out of the remains of its host, eventually succeeding before dying from its tumble off her corpse. "The monsters impregnated her with hundreds of those things. She was slowly being eaten from the inside out. To make things worse... She was awake. From when they entered her to place those things in every major cavity in her body until I ended her suffering, she was awa-awake." he ended with a bit of a bloody cough. "Those things would have consumed her, then tried for us if I hadn't acted. It was horrible what I did. But so was leaving her to suffer. If that makes me crazy. Then so be it." Nikari sat down. "Why should I believe you?" he finally responded, hostility rolling off of him in waves. "You just murdered our objective right before our eyes, and then decide to explain what you had done?" he paused, "who does that?". "Then you have to nerve to tell us afterward what happened to this girl could happen to us? Did it ever occur to you to forewarn our sensei before she went in that hell-hole?" at this his eyes became chips of ice. "What if you had died before informing us of this oh so important information? We would have been up the creek without a paddle, especially if the spiders succeeded in doing the same thing to our sensei while she was in there," Nikari stood up at this point, "I don't care what you say, but I can't work with people who hide important information like this from their teammates. Who knows what else you are hiding? Heck, who knows if you'll do the same thing on another mission, "forgetting" to enlighten your teammates in a situation that could ultimately prove to be life or death?" Nikari started to walk away before turning around once more, "I can't take that risk though, because I have to world to clean of despicable trash like you,". With that, Nikari stormed off, leaving behind watery footsteps. As if to signal the prevailing mood, it started to rain in the clearing, a vision obscuring drizzle that sizzled against the charred remains of the girl and the spider. Yokotama was vaguely aware of what's happening. Still, she thought she could protect anyone, and with Gatou's revelation, he just made her state of shock worse. She would begin to wander around, as she fell apart. Many stories of her past made her resolve to protect her friends and comrades, also those in need. Failing to save one, yet again, just like many other times in her sad history, just deepened her sadness. Someone would need to snap her out of it. Before she wandered too far. Got lost in her mind. Or worse, regained it, and attempted to do something crazy. Someone would need to calm Yokotama, or else. Rokun looked to her Sensei, speaking softly for the moment, "Sensei, the objective was lost..." eyes dull and weakened, expression that of confliction. Thoughts running about, they were all losing it and she suddenly came off as the calm one. She nearly laughed, the thought of her team breaking down over the mistake and break of an ally. "We must continue on..." turning to look at Gatou, going over to him, and shirking her way past, wincing with each step from the injuries she had sustained from the previous ambushes. "I'm not sure whether to trust you, or to be impressed even if you aren't lying. But if it's one thing, dog boy..." voice soft, tone peachy and warm. "It's that I'm actually proud you killed her without so much as a thought. I would say it takes a lot of heart to kill..." hands crossing across her chest, "But it's the opposite." Shinobi were trained to be instruments, emotionless weapons. Those that had come to her respective hometown had looked for those traits. Rokun couldn't believe he had displayed a kindred trait, and in her own twisted fashion, hugged him briefly. "Good job." whispering lowly into his ear. Gatou hurt right now. Not only was he physically beat to hell and back by Nikari's rage, he was still hurting emotionally from what he had to do to that girl. To top that all off, the team was in danger of splitting up permanently. But out of all that weighing on him, whether Nikari leaving them in the forest, or Sensei breaking down for whatever reason she did. What really freaked him out was Rokun's response to the whole situation. She wasn't mad, or confused, she was happy... That scared the shit out of Gatou, as it would any relatively normal person. He knew she was not quite right, but he never realized just how dark of a person Rokun truly was. How could one to be happy that he that he had killed a defenseless child... He just stared at her with wide eyes as she made her explanation... her acceptance of what he did. Then she hugged him, not tightly, but tightly enough. He couldn't hear a word she whispered into his ear, instead he felt it. He felt the beating of her heart. Even one as cold, as heartless as she seemed to be, still had a heart, was still human. Just like he was, just like the girl whose life he had ended. They were all human. Humans didn't always have the right answer, didn't always do the right thing. That's what made them human. As dark as she was, Rokun was still, and would always, be human. It heartened him to know that even the dark still had a light in it, and that light gave him the strength he needed. "Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong Rokun, it doesn't matter right now. Sensei didn't head towards the village like Nikari did, and she didn't seem quite right. We should go find her... even in our condition." He said wearily as he slowly forced himself to his feet, using the proffered forearm of his team mate to help himself get up. Category:Great's Play of Words